Woodworking blog entries tagged with 'manger'

Moving right along. I have milled all the pieces and have run up a few dry fits to get my construction sequence ironed out. Thanks to the sketch up model, the pieces turned out well measured and cut with one exception that repeated four times. If you look hard, you will see them, but it only identifies the project as mine (I always have at least one mistake).
..For ease of milling, I decided to extend the corner braces through the post instead of stopping them half way through.....The g...

Things move along quickly as long as employment doesn’t interfere. Actually, I am transitioning into retirement and it is not taking much effort. As you may have noticed in the first blog, the ½” plywood base was cut with shallow 45 deg. kerf cuts and cross cuts were made by chisel to emulate staggered planking. To make the new structure not look so “new”, I distressed the base with files, rasps, hammers and chain to dent and mar the pieces. That was tough, I usually try to avoid d...

I was commissioned to build a creche for one of my Dad’s customers (Well, Dad was commissioned, but I’m “subcontracting” At any rate I’m getting paid to do woodworking, and not resorting to family to supply the cash!)
Before meeting my client, I whipped up a bunch of rough sketches for something simple and rustic. Meanwhile (and unbeknownst to me), he headed on down to one of the big box stores to tell them about his project, and get a materials list. Fortunately one of my designs jived wi...

Delivered the creche this weekend, nearly complete. The woodworking aspects took longer than I expected, but not so bad that I was losing money on my time. The non-woodworking aspects however were another story.
I cut two kerfs on the insides of both legs, pre-glueup, to slide in a piece of plexiglass (the cutomers request), to protect the statues. Didn’t have one at the bottom or top (planned on using hidden screws at the top) to help hold it in place. I was to also put a piece ...

So my little girl (almost 4!) mentioned tonight (for the umpteenth time) that she “wants to be a builder,” this time adding “just like my daddy” (which, technically I’m not.)
So my wife countered, “What does daddy build?”
“Creches”
Interesting she said that, considering I delivered this one (and only) a week before Thanksgiving, and haven’t talked about it since.
We took a drive this evening, first to hear (Grammy nom...

Actually, the inspiration came indirectly through his son John, who developed Lincoln Logs ® and who’s design I slightly amended. OK, the joinery technique is really just half lapped joints, but I thought the inspiration tag sounded better.
Anyway, to move on, I was “tasked” by the wife to help build a crèche (manger) for her figures by next Christmas (this is not a last minute project). Having a handful of 18” x ½” dowels leftover from a previous project, I thought that I might just desi...